Music involves commitment, passion and marketing, and the members of the band Bachata Heightz credit the unofficial "Spanglish" language for helping promote their sounds internationally.

At Portada's Hispanic Music and Entertainment Marketing Forum in New York City on Wednesday, members of Bachata Heightz spoke about their influences, the growth of the bachata genre, promotion overseas and their newest single "Dime Porque." Bachata Heightz's Jerry Garcia, also known as Jay Heightz, Aneudy Hernandez (a.k.a. Chino) and Diego Capellán (a.k.a. Dee Major) said music has been a form of therapy for the group due to street violence in the Washington Heights neighborhood in Manhattan while growing up.

"[Bachata] was not so common while we were growing up. We were always kind of looked at as like the 'bachateros' in the block," said Jay Heightz.

According to Chino, the bachata and merengue music genres were common in their households due to their Dominican heritage. He noted the band formed after listening to bachata constantly as fellow Bachata Heightz member Jonathan Garcia, a.k.a. Da Phenomenon, was learning how to play guitar. Influences for the band include Anthony Santos, Luis Vargas, Marco Antonio Solis, Juan Luis Guerra and Juan Gabriel.

"We grew up escuchando, listening to their music, and they are always been known for having really good lyrics and very productions, so we looked up to that and that's who we're trying to become, following their steps," said Chino.

The sounds of Bachata Heightz reflect the New York life, with influence from hip-hop, R&B and reggae.

"I think being from New York, we grew up in a very diverse culture. There's a lot of every kind of nationality and we were always open to listening to music. We're fans of music in general," said Jay Heightz, noting the inclusion of non-bachata elements such as the piano and violin "came natural."

For Jay Heightz, the lead vocalist of Bachata Heightz, adding different elements, such as speaking in both English and Spanish, to the "foundation" of bachata has helped them "cross borders." The band has performed internationally in places such as Spain and Russia, but despite the long traveling hours, Chino said it's worth it since they love music.

"That's what's beautiful about music, there's really no nationality, no race," said Jay Heightz. "Music unites the whole world. When we first went to Russia, we really didn't know what to expect. We were in the plane and constantly contemplating 'how are we going to communicate, how are we going to do this,' and use Google Translator to talk to the promoters and the people when we got to the cab drivers and all that."

"But once we got on stage, it's like we understood each other," he said of the Russian fans. "They knew the songs. They were singing the songs and dancing better than us, which surprised us, and that really makes us feel proud that our music that came from the Dominican Republic ... has traveled all over the world."

With international fans becoming familiar with bachata, the band stated they are proud and have a sense of being cultural ambassadors to represent the genre in other locations including India and Japan.

With the rise of digital technology, Dee Major said platforms such as Apple iTunes and Google Play have become the main source for fans to buy their music, adding, "That's the best way we sell our music nowadays 'cause CDs kind of don't exist no more."

Jay Heightz noted that a lack of CDs may hurt sales, but the Internet has still helped the band "tremendously," especially in the foreign market. He said the purpose of performing at international venues was never to physically promote Bachata Heightz, but because digital, including social media, already provided fans overseas the opportunity to become familiar with the band and overall bachata music.

Bachata Heightz is putting the final touches on its first album in four years with the lead single "Dime Porque" (Tell Me Why). The production for "Dime Porque" came "organically," according to Jay Heightz, adding that the band was playing with instruments without the intention of creating a song but a melody "sparked" in his head. After finding a melody, the next stage was writing the lyrics.

"We weren't trying to find the song, we were just messing around in the studio with the instruments," he said.

The band is currently in the process of selecting the final tracks for the album, but additional singles for the new album will include diverse sounds, surprises and collaborations.

The members of Bachata Heightz said it wasn't easy starting in the music industry, as the bachata genre wasn't common compared to today.

"It was definitely difficult, but I think just having a strong team and a group of guys that has the same vision, the same dream helped a lot," said Jay Heightz.

According to Jay Heightz, producing Spanglish music made bachata music "a little cooler" for the younger demographics and broadened its audience. Utilizing both languages also expanded on social media when connecting to fans with messages written in English and Spanish.

Bachata Heightz also introduced Cynthia Lee, the female vocalist in "Dime Porque." Jay Heightz acknowledged the lack of having of a male and female performing together in bachata, notably after the end of Monchy and Alexandra in 2008. As a result, the band noticed the gap and asked Lee to assist in the chorus.

"I absolutely love working with the guys ... they're great to work with. They're very talented," said Lee. "It's fun on stage. We have great chemistry and their chemistry together is amazing. They go in, and they get me excited, and I think that's the most important part. We can play off of each other's energy and chemistry."

Bachata Heights and Lee performed their new single "Dime Porque" on stage for the Portada audience and guests.